8 Things You Can Do To Combat Thyroid Hair Loss

When there are thyroid problems, hair can be more fragile and brittle. To improve your appearance and prevent excessive falls, it is convenient to improve your diet, manage stress and practice other tricks.

Would you like to combat hair loss, but don’t know how to do it? Don’t worry, below we will tell you the eight things you can do to achieve it and other interesting facts.

But first, keep in mind that alterations in the functioning of the thyroid gland can cause imbalances in all the body’s systems. And it can even affect hair life cycles, thus causing hair loss.

The thyroid is a gland that performs various functions. Regulates metabolism, body temperature, assimilation of nutrients, among other aspects. Therefore, when you suffer from some type of imbalance, various signs and symptoms may be noticed.

Since it participates in the regulation of various substances in different processes, it is not surprising that it also influences hair health.

Patients with thyroid problems are often concerned about hair loss. At this point it is important to comment that, following the doctor’s recommendations and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it is always possible to improve and maintain hair health, and reduce hair loss.

Below we share a series of recommendations that can be useful if you want to maintain healthy hair, even when you are under treatment for a thyroid problem.

1. Take your medications

If your doctor has prescribed some type of medication or supplement to treat your thyroid problem, it is important that you follow their instructions. This includes making sure to take the prescribed dose every day, while also keeping to the schedule.

To combat hair loss, you can also consider taking some dietary supplements (if your doctor authorizes it) of zinc or collagen.

2. Improve your diet

Maintaining a balanced diet appropriate to the needs of the body is crucial to be able to enjoy health and well-being. And thyroid patients should try to follow the recommendations of their treating physician regarding the foods they should start consuming more frequently and avoid, as far as possible, those that are not so recommended.

Given that hormonal lack of control can decrease the ability to absorb nutrients, it is best to follow a balanced and complete diet, focused on improving the hormonal situation and the thyroid gland.

Recommended foods

• Iodine: Low intake of iodine sources is one of the main causes of thyroid hormone deficiency, a condition known as hypothyroidism.
• Fatty acids: fatty acids are necessary in the activity of the metabolism of our body, and a great complement to improve the function of our thyroid.
• Magnesium: the correct absorption of magnesium helps maintain good metabolic and hormonal health, being necessary to absorb iodine.
• Selenium: this mineral is an antioxidant that benefits your thyroid health. On the other hand, selenium deficiency can impair your thyroid’s hormonal activity.
• Zinc: Zinc is also part of the delicate homeostasis of thyroid hormones.

• Iron: in  addition to helping to improve our resistance to diseases, intervene in the transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood and help in the synthesis of DNA and in the formation of collagen, a deficiency of iron can also alter our hormones of the thyroid.
• Vitamins A, B and D: all of them, with important functions in our body, can alter the thyroid gland if they are deficient in the body.

3. Eat more fresh food

To combat hair loss, you should give priority to the consumption of fresh food, always within the framework of a balanced diet.

• Fruits, vegetables and legumes rich in lycopene to promote collagen production. For example: apples, strawberries or beets.

• Fruits rich in vitamin C, since this vitamin is necessary to change essential amino acids such as proline into hydroxyproline, which is the form of collagen.
• Celery, cucumbers, garlic, onions and other foods with sulfur, since this mineral is vital in the production of collagen.
• Soy milk and cheese, because they contain genistein, which supports collagen production.

4. Drink more water

Hydration is a habit that not only benefits the proper functioning of the body’s most important systems but is essential to maintain good hair health.

By drinking enough water daily, depending on your thirst, you will be able to avoid, in a certain way, excessive hair loss and other problems such as dryness and dandruff.

5. Avoid using gadgets

Devices such as straighteners, dryers or curling and styling tweezers, among others, are the number one enemy of your hair. Especially when you are weakened due to some imbalance in the functioning of the thyroid.

These artifacts affect the structure of your strands, decrease their strength and, over time, cause breakage and hair loss.

6. Add gelatin to the shampoo

The amino acids that the consumption of unflavored gelatin provides could be beneficial for hair health, as they would help to strengthen the mane. However, there are those who consider that applying it to the roots, weekly or periodically, as part of their hair treatment could also work.

Additionally, it is considered that by applying this substance to the scalp, hair loss could be stopped.

• To get these benefits, simply add half a powdered sachet to an eight-ounce (236-milliliter) bottle of natural shampoo.

7. Apply hair treatments

While it is true that you will need to maintain a good diet to make sure you provide your body with what it needs to function properly, you should also make sure you take care of yourself “on the outside.”

Seen like this, you should consider changing your hair care products and evaluating how they feel on you. In some cases, a change of shampoo, the weekly application of masks and cream baths can contribute positively to your hair health.

8. Beware of chronic stress

Chronic stress can contribute significantly to hair loss. For this reason, to combat hair loss, it is advisable to look for the necessary tools to learn to manage stress and emotional tension in the best possible way, day by day. 

There are those who prefer to choose to meditate or practice techniques such as mindfulness, others prefer to do catharsis through drawing, dance or other activities. And others prefer to simply go for a walk in the fresh air. Any alternative is valid, as long as it brings benefits.

In case you consider that you need professional help, do not hesitate to request it. Going to the psychologist can also contribute to your well-being and in regards to your health: help you prevent hair loss.

Ready to fight hair loss?

If you have been diagnosed with some type of thyroid problem, you should follow your doctor’s instructions and try to maintain good lifestyle habits, since this will not only provide you with well-being, but also other benefits, such as a healthy and beautiful mane.

The tips cited here can be put into practice as complementary measures to combat hair loss, but keep in mind that they should never be your only option. To take care of yourself completely, you need to apply several coherent strategies at the same time.